Offenders' lives painted on cells

Cell walls at a Swindon police station are being covered with murals depicting the life stories of former offenders.

The project hopes to reach out to people being held at Gablecross to show how some former criminals have turned their lives around.

Charlie, 41, an ex-crack and heroin addict has created the first storyboard which will be reproduced on cell tiles.

"If my story can be put on a cell wall and somebody takes something from that then I'm okay with that," he said.

If you're sitting in a cell for 12 hours you will read every scratch on every tile to stop you going bonkers Sue D'Amico, Drugs Intervention Co-Coordinator

Charlie's story details his relationship with alcohol and drugs to his current position as a drugs worker.

"I was 14 or 15 when I found alcohol.....but I didn't get into drugs till I was 21," he said.

"I had about 20, 25 years at it and came to my own conclusion that it was no way of life."

The idea is not a new one for Swindon but previously art work on cell walls has been commissioned from local art students.

Moment of change

"This time round we decided to use actual known ex-drug users because if you're a prisoner sitting in a cell it's more believable to have art made by people who know what they're going through," said Gablecross' Drugs Intervention Programme co-coordinator, Sue D'Amico.

"If you're sitting in a cell for an hour or 12 hours, you've nothing to look at but bare walls, so you will read every scratch on every tile to stop you going bonkers."

Charlie said his life changed when he became a father of two children.

He said: "Realising I was their hero and that they would probably end up like me and being aware I nearly killed two people with my bare hands which is not nice, not nice.

"I'm not a sociopath, I'm just a guy trying to get through life," he said.

The first of four commissioned stories is due to be unveiled in the next two months.